My top 15 favorite cartoons

Cartoons rock

Ladies and Gentlemen, it's now time for my top fifteen favorite cartoons of all time. Now of course writing this was hard considering that I had a hard time choosing what toons to put on my list. I've seen alot of toons come and go. Some I wish would go but anyway here comes my list. In no particular order of course.

Inspector Gadget

Now I'm in now way talking about the movie that disney tried to make. I thought the casting of matthew broderick was horrible. Now the cartoon featuring the voice of the late Don Adams as Inspector Gadget and Frank Welker as Brain,Dr. Claw and Mad Cat. Anytime I hear that Frank Welker is involved it turns my frown upside down. The voices were great and they defined the characters. Not to mention the theme song which all great shows have a great theme that you just can't get out of your head. The thing I loved most about the show was that gadget always seemed to solve the crime without even knowing it. I was always shouting at the TV "Dude, he's the bad guy!" but oh well gadget entertained me. I love when the cheif would show up and give him notes. Then gadget would throw the notes into where the cheif was hiding. In a trash can or whatever or sometimes where ever. Sometimes even helping the bad guys but luckily he had his neice Penny who's book which had a computer inside of it and their dog Brain. He made me laugh with all the costumes he would wear. I also like that brain had listening devices in his collar. I always remember Dr. Claw for his infamous line "I'll get you gadget next time. Next time!!!"All in all the show was awesome to bad nickelodeon took it off the air.

Darkwing Duck

This show came out right around the time when Disney was striking gold with every animated show that they created. So why not cook while the burner is hot. So Darkwing Duck was made and boy was it an awesome show with Jim Cummings as our hero. Which you can't go wrong with him in voice casting for anything. I did enjoy the obvious diss on Batman. They didn't come right out and say it but it was.I love Darkwing's lines he would say as he appeared. " I am the terror the flaps in the night." then of course whatever the bad guys were doing that what his next oneliner would be. Which I thought was very clever for them to do. I would rush home everyday and wake up every morning to watch Darkwing fight crime. I had the action figures the Bush root figure, the Launch pad figure and the Mega volt figure. Of course Darkwing was the hardest to find. This show was one of Disney's crowning achievements and sometimes was received as a bit underrated. Darkwing has and will always be one of my favorites.

Animaniacs

It's time for animaniacs, I have to say this show came out when I was in sixth grade I think. It's about alot of things rolled into one. It was an animated sketch comedy show. This show was almost to edgy for a afternon slot of fox kids. I didn't care though it pushed the envelope but in a good way. The jokes weren't dull or boring. I loved the Jerry Lewis guy, OH lady!! Also the other cartoons on the show as well. Like Pinky and the Brain, the goodfeathers (Which of course is a knock of goodfellas. Which I loved), Mindy and Buttons. I didn't care to much for rita and runt even though. Runt always confused Rita for a dog which was good. I think the hippos were annoying. Of course I love slappy squirrel as well. The wood stock sketch is classic. Who..The name of band..Who.. the band on stage.It was classic Abbot and Castello stuff. I loved it unfortunately like all great cartoons they get cancelled but now thanks to DVD. You can relive animaniacs for years to come.

Biker Mice From Mars

This had alot of the qualities that I have been talking about. Strong characters, good voice acting and in a way an original story. If you've never seen biker mice from mars before. You missed an awesome show. Rob Paulson as Throttle, Brad Garret as Grease Pit and Ian Ziering as Vinnie. The show takes place in Chicago which I love because I am a Bulls fan been a fan since the Jordan era. The Mice from Mars Throttle, Vinnie and Modo escaped from their war ridden home planet of Mars. You see their race is in a never ending war with the plutarkians. They are half fish part human creatures who smell awful. The mice escpace from their home planet to wind up on Earth. Where they find themselves landing near a garage. They end up making friends with Charlie an earth woman who repairs their motorcycles and also let them live in the garage. They later find out that the Plutarkians plan to take over earth and one of them. Lawrence Limburgar is on Earth so they have never ending battles with Limburgar on Earth. Along the way there of course is hilarity. The theme song rocked just like any great show should have is a great theme song. Now some people try to say that this is a blatant ripoff of ninja turtles and in a way it kinda was but not really. I became a fan of this show like all the others on my list.

Teenage Mutant Ninja TurtlesThis is the show that was loosely based on the comic book by Eastman and Laird. This show has it's finger prints all over my childhood. People even now ask me,"What makes that show so great?" Alot of things about the show that most of us grew up with. The shows greatness made it one of the most popular shows on tv at the time. The show made cowabunga part of mine and alot of kids my age vocabulary. One thing that made the show great had to be the characters. Their personalities were and still are the driving force behind the turtles. Everyone knows a smart guy, a guy with sarcastic wit, a born leader and a guy who just wants to party. You believed in the turtles and at times forgot you were watching a cartoon. I often had bring myself back to reality. I also loved the turtles didn't need superpowers. Their ninja skills were enough to defeat Shredder each episode. I loved that Shredder wasn't your average villain their were times when he had some of the best lines in the show. I remember the one episode in particular where he brought those stone warriors to life. He had them marching in line. "You left, You left, You left your wife and forty eight kids." I watched that episode recently and I laughed for a good five minutes. I also liked the realtionship between Shredder and Krang. They sounded like an old married couple. Rocksteady and Bebop were perfect as henchmen. They never seemed to get the job done at all but, when they did it would always seem to blow up in their faces. To bad that this turtles show isn't on television anymore. I think till the end of time people remember this show versus the newer show.

Ben 10

This is probably one of the best cartoons around these days. If you've never seen the show you should. It's about a boy named Ben Tennyson along with his cousin Gwen and Grampa Max. At the beginning of Ben's summer vaction. He thought it was going to be another boring trip with his Grampa but it turns out it wasn't when he finds an alien device that clamps itself to his wrist. The device known as the Omnitrix can transform him into different alein forms of all shapes and sizes.Ben, Gwenn and Max travel the country during summer vaction fighting aliens. Later on Ben finds out that the Omnitrix is unpredictiable. What I love most about this idea is that it is original. Who would've thought of this? Certainly not me and when it first aired I was like. Oh here we go another craptoon. Of that being my term for some of the stuff that they are animating these days. I watched it and immediately I was drawn to the show. The animation is good, the voice acting is superb and it gives a certain realism to it in a way. The relationship between Ben and Gwen are what you would expect from two cousins that are ten years old. There you have it and that is why Ben 10 makes my list.

X Men

I was a big fan of this show. This show came out a month after Power Rangers. I think that I'm not to sure. What I am sure of is that this show. Had everything awesome animation, great voice acting, action, drama. You name it and plus it has a strong comic book line that supports it. The basics of the show is about mutants that have sworn to protect the world that hates them. The one thing this show has that the movies don't have is Gambit. Gambit was a freaking cool character. Anyone who can ignite anything with energy and then throw it at an enemy is okay in my book.Some episodes were hard to follow you never seen the show before. I think Wolverine became the blue print for every not so good guy persona and why not. I mean the guy will kick your butt if you look at him wrong. I think beneath all of the roughness is a good soul but don't tell him that. Just like ninja turtles the X-men have spawned games and movies. I think that X-men will be around for a long time. That is why X-men made my list.

Dexter's Laboratory

This is probably my third favorite show to appear on cartoon network. The pilot to dexter's lab aired one night after Mr. Spims Cartoon Theater. I watched it and I must say I loved it. The primiss of the show is as follows Dexter is a boy genius who is about eight years old who has a secret lab that his parents don't know about but his sister Dee Dee does. So of course being annoying like all sisters are. I remember my younger sister always going into my room and messing with things. Dee Dee was the same way. She always seem to wreak Dexter's experiments. No matter what is was of course who can forget Mandark. The one thing I remember about Mandark is his laugh. Hahaha. He of course had a crush on Dee Dee of course it blowed up in his face when Dee Dee ended up destroying his lab just like she would to Dexter's. The spoofs that they did were awesome. Like the speed racer spoof, I never laughed so hard in my life. It was like watching an episode of speed racer Dexter style. Of course who could forget the other cartoons the aired with Dexter like the Justice Friends and Monkey. I would have to say that the Justice Friends ruled. I mean who would came up with that idea. I was hoping that cartoon network would've gave them their own show but sadly they never did. I wish Dexter was still on tv but, you know as well as I do that the DVD will be released someday.

Swat Kats

This show was around for a long time and still is from what I understand. It airs on Boomerang, I think. As a kid and even now I love this show. The show was about two vigilante pilots named T-Bone and Razor known to one and all in Mega kat City as The Swat Kats. Who would fight evil in their jet and with other gadgets as well. What made this show great? I mean it really quite simple the voice acting for one. Charlie Adler as T-bone and Barry Gordon as Razor made awesome additions to the show along with Frank Welker, Jim Cummings just to name a few. The theme makes the show as well of course the show had two different themes but hey they both ruled. The animation was superb this of course was animated by Hanna Barbera this show was probably one of the crowning achievements. Of they had others but this show had to be one of my favorites. They need to release this bad boy on dvd, god would that rule.Another thing had to be the villians Dark Cat of course, Time master, Dr. Viper, The metallicats, Matcat who ruled all. I think Madcat and Dr. Viper are neck in neck to be my favorite Swat Kat villians. Viper was voiced by Frank Welker for one that right there is reason enough to like the creepy liazrd looking plant villain. Not to mention the episode where Viper flooded Mega Kat City with some sort of stuff. Then T-Bone turned into a mutant frog thing. of course Madcat for being a crazied jester villain. I was like brilliant why didn't I think of that. Another thing that I loved was that Feryl hated the Swat Kats and would always make an excuse as to why they did what they did. All in all Swat Kats will remain a classic in cartoon history.

Justice League

I can't say one bad thing about this show. I talking about Justice league not unlimited. The show that everyone was waiting for, for along time. When I heard about it I had to watch it. I was right it was an awesome show. It brought together Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern (John Stewart version), Hawkgirl and Martian Manhunter. Batman and Flash had to be my favorite characters on the show. Batman being the guy that doesn't need superpowers to give you a beat down and The Flash who can out run anyone including Micheal Johnson. Ha I would like to see that race. Green Lantern and the others were cool but, Batman and Flash stand out in my mind as the best characters on the show. Flash of course brought comedy and Batman brought a never say die attitude. I mean I always will hate superman to the day I die and Wonder Woman. I don't want to diss on Bats' woman or he'll give me a beat down. Hawkgirl was decent I guess with out her mase she really didn't have any powers or at least I don't think she does. Martian Manhuter was awesome as well. I almost forgot about him he was like a Martian superman which was cool he didn't need to be all rough and tough to kick butt. This show was great until they changed it to Unlimited. I think they were to many characters. If they wanted to add like Green Arrow, Black Canary and Aqua Man. I could understand that but not everyone else. The Justice League Unlimited theme was cool but the was about it. I just didn't like all the dag on characters but when I think Justice League animated I'll think of this show.

Extreme Ghostbusters

I loved Real Ghostbusters up until this show appeared on tv. I infact loved this show and everything about it. The fact that it had a gothic edge to it rocked. The voices of Slimer and Egon returned. I couldn't imagine anyone doing the voices besides Frank Welker and Maurice La Marche. Now of course people dissed the show. Hey I think it was a great way to reinvent Ghostbusters for a new audience. I think it would've made an awesome movie. I got crepped out by some episodes that were on this show. Like the one where they had laughter vampires that one ruled but, the one that stands out in my mind was when the other three original ghostbusters came back to reunite with Egon. That episode was like my all time favorite episode of the series. To me I thought this has to an excuse to why they haven't released another ghostbusters movie but hey I enjoyed this show. It was sad that ended so soon.

Tiny Toon Adventures

This show came out around the time that I think that everyone was burnt out on Looney Tunes. I was tired of seeing the same rabbit season, duck season gag or Wil E Coyote getting out smarted by Acme products. That's when this show the breath of fresh air that it was came along and changed everything. First I loved that they were mostly all if not most of them were kid versions of the Looney Tunes characters. Buster was Bugs, Plucky was Daffy and so on and so forth. The first episode put it all into perspective and I loved it. I know everyone and their brother remembers Tiny Toons. Of course this show had loads of gags and jokes but also taught some good lessons as well. Like the smoking episode which was priceless stuff or the saturday night live spoof, Can't forget weekday afternoon live. How about the just us league of super toons? I loved bat duck and of course Wex Wuthor. My favorite thing on tiny toons had to Wackyland. That was awesome stuff of course there was an old cartoon called Porky goes to wacky land but this Wacky land rocked. Every cliche' you could think of was there. Then the timeless episode where they spoofed commericals as well. Like Lucky Worms, catch them lucky worms they're magical distgusting. Tiny Toons is an all time classic and soon from what I'm hearing it will be realeased on DVD.

Beast Wars

This show debuted when I was in eighth grade I think and was around for three to four years give or take. I can't really remember, all I know is that this show was like my new ninja turtles. The main idea of the show was the maximals the descendants of the autobots and the predicons descendants of the decepticons were battling in space. They landed on an unknown planet and they scanned themselves into animals. Which I though was an awesome premiss for tranformers anyways. So this computer generated show became an immediate hit in my eyes. The characters like all transformers incarnations were strong. I even loved the fact that primal in robot form resembled the original prime. I loved that he could fly as well which made it really cool but my favorite character on the show had to be rattrap. Why I don't know, maybe the episode where he got trapped inside the base with the new security system. He always brought a good laugh to whatever scene he was apart of plus his love hate relationship with dinobot was classic. Them arguing all the time made for great television. Of course after three seasons the show ended and I was pissed until Beast machines which I loved as well but, Beast Wars without a doubt is my favorite transformers incarnation and that is why it made my list.

Gargoyles

This show next to Darkwing Duck was the best animated show to never have the Disney name attached to it. This show appealed to a much older audience and that's what I loved about it. I was thirteen when this show aired on TV and I was like this is fricking sweet. All the battles and violence. Nothing was cooler than that for me at thirteen years old. It reminded me alot of the Batman animated series very dark and dealt with series subject matter. That isn't really common place for a children's cartoon series. The characters were strong and the voices were great. Keith David as Goliath and so on and so forth. This just like most cartoons on my list was an original idea. When something is original and has a good stories and strong characters people hold it close to their hearts. I'm glad Disney was smart and released on dvd so everyone can enjoy yet another great animated show.

Mighty Ducks

Last and certainly not least is this show. I was a big fan of the movies and who wasn't. Of course there are a few who hated the movies starring Emilo. I loved this show let's start with theme. Theme song was song by the guy from Jefferson Starship and man did he do a good job. I would sing that song all the time. When the show first aired I sung it all the time. I loved the fact they were from a planet that hockey is the sport which explains their backgrounds and plus the characters are strong. There of course is Wildwing the leader who always did the right thing even though at first he wasn't even sure who should be leader. Then there's his little brother Nosedive who reminding me alot of Michelangelo from tennage mutant ninja turtles. Then there was Mallory a miltary loving martial arts master. Duke a former jewel theif who now works on the side of good. Tanya she's so smart like Phil said in the first episode. " She could program a VCR." Then there is Grin he's very wise and gentle but is as strong as an Ox.They played Hockey by day and fought crime by night cool primiss for a show. Most of the time the ducks fought against the evil alien beings called Saurions. Who from the get go wanted to destroy the ducks home planet of Puck World. Lead by the evil Lord Dragaunus.They were believeable characters and voice casting for this show like most is superb. I mean Ian Ziering as Wildwing, April Winchell as Tanya, Brad Garret as Grin and others along with Tim Curry as Dragaunus who is great in any role he does the voice for. Not to mention Dennis Franz as Clegghorn and Jim Buleshi as Phil. I'm like heck yeah this show rules. I even went out and bought a Wildwing action figure. Now of course this again is one of those shows. You either love it or you hate and I loved it. To bad there were only 26 episodes I guess they ran out of ideas and what have you.They would rather back the crap that's on their channel now.

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With the exception of Beast Wars (I couldn't get into it) and Mighty Ducks (I pretty much lost interest in Disney's television animation at that point), this is a pretty good list. Never saw Extreme Ghostbusters.

wait wait wait.. TMNT is not number one?! No He-man?! No Transformers?! And no orignal Ghostbusters?! And wheres Thundercats?! lol, just messing. good list though... i watched all of those shows.. and enjoyed all of them

Wow I watched pretty much all of the shows you listed. Darkwing Duck kicked major butt back in the days. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a classic. I'm actually glad you mentioned Swat Kats it's sort of a show thats left off many lists and I thought it was a real gem when it was on tv as well as Gargoyles. The original Justice League was a really great show too, Unlimited I had lost interested as well as with Beast Wars being cool and Beast Machines sucking.

Swat Kats = sweetness! I too loved how Feryl had that Jonah Jameson/Spider-Man sort of hatred for them. Extreme Ghostbusters has now been on a Favorites list and a Worst list. I guess you either like it or you don't. Or, like me, you stick to the original cartoon (which was awesome!).

They way you wrote about the X-men it seems like you are unaware that is was a comic book for decades before the show. I'm assuming this is just how your writing style works. It would be nice to try and make your articles a bit more clear cut. Other than that good article, just the kind of stuff I like to read on Retrojunk.

AHHH MAN!!!!!!!! your list is almost perfect but then i see Ben 10 and mihty ducks man........ and i have to agree that swat kats was awesome i used to love them and the new adventures of johnny quest esp. when he would go 3-D that was Fawesome